Energy conservation is an important goal and promises to continue being of prime importance for the foreseeable future. A commonly used energy source is a burner, either electric or gas, used for cooking. One of the problems with conventional burners is that they are rather energy inefficient in that much energy is lost to the surrounding environment and not transferred into the pot or pan on the burner. While always inefficient and wasteful, this loss of heat becomes especially significant when camping. When camping, or at other such times, the burner may provide a lower heat output than at fixed installations, such as in the home. Also, being outside and subject to cold weather and blowing winds, the efficiency of outdoor burner is often further reduced. This may not be too much of a problem if the supply of fuel is large and if time constraints are not a problem. However, it is inefficient and can provide serious constraints to those who are either under time restrictions or restrictions as to the amount of fuel they can or are willing to carry with them, such as on a backpacking trip.
Another problem with conventional burners is that they are not suited for baking. Cook tops provide bottom heat and thus are not particularly suited for baking foods such as biscuits, cakes or pizza. While various camping ovens have been developed, they are generally of the type which use folding metal sheets used as reflectors to concentrate and create an oven region within the reflectors. They are relatively heavy, bulky and not particularly suited for backpacking, bicycling, canoeing and other back-country travel.